On a recent afternoon, Dodie McCracken sipped on a beverage at Gerhard’s Elegant European Desserts reflecting on why she is a steady customer at the popular Lake Forest shop.
“It has that small-town feel yet big-city quality, and there is a magic in that for us,” she said. “We enjoy the camaraderie and the people who run the shop, but we really enjoy the yummies.”
Last month, Gerhard’s celebrated its 30th anniversary in business on Western Avenue.
“My customers, they are all my friends,” owner Mary Greub said. “This is pleasant for me to come here. I love to see everybody every day.”
Greub recalls the start of the business as she was engaged to Gerhard Greub, then the executive pastry chef of the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago before he decided to move on from that job.
“Where else can you go from there, except run your own business,” she said.
They found a Lake Forest bakery up for sale and decided to start their own operation.
There were difficult days at the start, but the customers eventually started coming in wanting to eat tasty desserts. Today, her biggest seller is a dark chocolate mousse that comes either as a cake or individual portion.
“It’s been the number-one seller for 30 years,” Greub proudly states.
She said her signature dessert is a chocolate marjolaine, two layers of chocolate meringue filled with white chocolate mousse and topped with dark chocolate ruffles.
On a larger level, Greub said the menu has evolved over the decades, but there has always been a constant.
“I think we have changed a little bit with what people are looking for, but never the quality of the ingredients we use,” she said.
Greub talked about the evolving food habits she has witnessed.
“America has gotten a lot better in their food,” she said. “We’ve come a long way in 30 years in quality of food. I think people have become more into real ingredients, instead of sugar-free and artificial ingredients. Everything we make here is real. The same ingredients you have in your kitchen, I have in my kitchen.”
For the last 25 years, chef Sandy Sofere has been the executive pastry chef. Gerhard Greub lives in another part of the world now, but comes back over the summer and during the Christmas season.
While the desserts are a main attraction, another is the interaction for the customers.
“It is a very ‘Cheers’-like environment of regulars,” Gerhard said, pointing to the popular sitcome of the 1980s and ’90s.
Those regulars include McCracken, who points out Gerhard’s created her son’s wedding cake and grandson’s first birthday cake.
“We love the quality, the service, the attention to detail,” she said.
McCracken husband, former U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, spoke of Greub’s friendliness as a reason why Gerhard’s has succeeded.
“It is the Mary show because it is 100% Mary,” he said.
Barrington’s Frank DeFalco mentioned how he discovered the store one day while in Lake Forest, and for the last 20 years he has stopped by three times a week.
“This is the only true pastry shop left in the Chicagoland area,” he said. “It is outstanding, and it is comparable to everything you can find in most pastry shops in Europe. If you are looking for the best, this is the best.”
Greub still speaks excitedly about her business, at the same time acknowledging the recent challenges.
She noted the store remained open at the worst of the coronavirus pandemic, but there was a prohibition on customers sitting inside. Moreover, the shop lost its wholesale business due to hotels, country clubs and restaurants shutting down. That part of the operation has not returned.
Then there was the labor shortage, coupled with inflation. Greub bemoans a 240% increase in chocolate prices in two years, adding that shipping costs have skyrocketed. That has forced her to raise prices.
“There is a limit as to how much you would pay for something, but I have to keep my doors open and be able to pay my bills, too,” she said.
On another front, anyone running a business often can have tumultuous interactions with the public. Greub maintains her customers are pleasant, but there are still challenges.
“However when someone wants to uber-manage their party, I try to tell them that they have to trust that we have done this for 30 years,” she said. “I try to guide them that I have done this for so many years, and I only want it to be the best.”
Looking ahead, Greub oversees an operation of 14 employees. She said she is still enjoying what she does.
“I love so much what I do, it isn’t work for me,” she said. “Coming here every day is just coming to see my friends.”
She is continuing operations in what she sees as a new era for the city.
“I think Lake Forest has been rejuvenated,” she said. “A lot of people moved here after all the unrest in the city of Chicago because this was the safest community to move to. We have a lot of new young families with children, and it is wonderful.”
Greub spoke about what advice she would offer if a young couple approached her about running a business today.
“They have to have the passion,” she said. “Gerhard had the passion to make the product, and I have the passion to be with my customers. I think that is why we were a winning success.”
